Ooey gooey chocolate chip peanut butter bars…
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
These chocolate chip peanut butter bars are one of the top most popular recipes on my blog – and for very good reason!
When you need a recipe that both meat eaters and vegans love, these bars are an absolute must-try, because they will never let you down.
Of every dessert I’ve ever made, these peanut butter bars are still one of my go-to recipes for parties, because they’re easy to transport, get rave reviews even from guests who aren’t into healthy eating, and you’re pretty much guaranteed no leftovers by the end of the night.
People go crazy for the soft, gooey, peanut buttery texture and melty chocolate in each delicious bite, and they taste like the lovechild of a chocolate chip cookie and a Reeses peanut butter cup!
*There’s now also a chocolate brownie version, so be sure to try the Brownie Batter Bars!
Above – watch the video of making the peanut butter bars!
The peanut butter bars can be:
Vegan
Keto
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Sugar Free
Egg Free
Grain Free
Soy Free
Paleo
And Oil Free
(For high-protein peanut butter bars, make these Protein Bars.)
Homemade Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
With chocolate and peanut butter, is it any surprise how good these are?
If Nestlé and Hersheys were to collaborate on a dessert, I’m pretty sure they’d come up with something along the lines of these gooeylicious chocolate chip peanut butter bars.
The recipe was originally adapted from my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, and I’ve changed it over the years to make it even better (which I didn’t think was possible, because the original was so good!).
Below is the newest version, which now includes a keto friendly option for those who need it. Everyone should be able to enjoy these crazy delicious peanut butter bars!
(Above, bringing the bars to a party earlier this year. They did not last long!)
If you want a bigger batch, try the popular Ryan Reynolds Blondie Bars.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup applesauce, or yogurt such as coconutmilk yogurt
- 1 cup peanut butter OR allergy-friendly alternative – nut-free recipe here
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp flour – you can use spelt, white, sorghum, oat, almond, even or buckwheat (50g)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips, optional
- up to 2 tbsp milk of choice, only if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch pan, or line with parchment. Gently heat nut butter if not already stir-able, then stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, stir baking soda, salt, flour, sugar, and chocolate chips. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and keep stirring—it will seem very dry at first, so you’ll need to break up the nut butter and stop occasionally to scrape it off your spoon. If needed, slowly add up to 2 tbsp milk of choice as you stir. Don’t add more milk; it will eventually get gooey like cookie dough. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Smooth down evenly. (I press a second sheet of parchment on top to smooth, then remove this sheet.) Press some chocolate chips into the top if desired. Bake 10 minutes. When you take the peanut butter bars out, the top will look set but they will still be very undercooked underneath. This is okay! Leave them to cool for at least 20 minutes, during which time they will firm up. (They also firm up even more overnight.)View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
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I’m trying to fatten up my dAughter in a healthy way. Can I use coconut oil instead of applesauce? How would that change the baking time?
Thanks! She loves lots of your recipes.
I can’t vouch for any substitutions I haven’t tried, but you can definitely experiment! I might try subbing the applesauce with more peanut butter, as their textures are more similar than coconut oil to applesauce. However, either way sounds like a fun experiment. Be sure to report back if you do try something!
I tried subbing the applesauce for coconut oil and it didn’t work! It was completely liquid, not the texture of dough at all. Been baking for 20 minutes and still looks like jello 🙁 Will have to try this again and follow the recipe exactly!
Peanut butter! Chocolate! Two of my favourite things all smooshed together. YES PLEASE! :9
OMG! That chocolate is to die for! I love these bars. 😀
These look SO decadent!!! I love that they seem to have a fudgy texture! I pulled out an old recipe today too with chocolate and zucchini (as mentioned in your post!);
http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/double-chocolate-zucchini-bread/
Wow! Peanut butter chocolate perfection! Gotta try this recipe!
Oh my gosh. This recipe is a-mazing! Totally satisfies my chocolate/peanut butter cravings without making me ingest a load of crap 🙂
And just want to say I managed to successfully half the recipe as written. (And a good thing too as my boyfriend and I just contemplated eating the whole darn thing!)
I made a whole pan and it is almost gone. They are dangerously addictive! Next time I might have to 1/2 the recipe like you did. Less tempting!
Hi! I cannot wait to make these, I love peanut butter 😉 I am dying for some cookie butter right now, Katie you would be my hero if you could create a healthy cookie butter!
Are you sure this is healthy, this looks better than unhealthy sweets! lol
yummy! You can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!!
Hey, contrary to what everyone else is saying, mine were too firm – they weren’t gooey at all but more like a super-dense cake texture. The flavour was good but they weren’t at all what I was hoping to make – I’m wondering if I should have used commercial peanut butter (mine was the type that is literally ground peanuts with no additives, and it was the last bit in the jar, so it was the least oily because the oil tends to separate and float to the top) OR I’m wondering if I baked them too long? I didn’t set a timer, just looked at the clock, and it was roughly 10 minutes but might have been 12…
I used natural pb too and my batter was super firm – like peanut butter cookie batter firm. So I added the milk (almond milk). Did you add the milk? I baked mine for probably 15 min because they looked too jiggly after 10. I would guess that it was the lack of oil in your pb like you suggested. Try it again with a new jar – cuz it’s way too good to give up on.